Hemp-breaking machine.



HBM? BREAKING MAGHINE.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTE!) PEB. 6, 1906.

w. n. KLAHK J. P. Lawn.

HEM? ERBAKING mcms.

APPLIUATIE I'LD Imi-1.1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

.Mll

iibreakeis, means for keeping the hemp be- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. KLAUK AND JAMES P. LOWRY, OF WINCHESTER., KENTUCKY.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 6, 1906.

Application le November 4, 1903. Serial No. 1559,854.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM H. KLAUK and J AMES P. LOWRY, citizens of the United States, residing at Winchester, in the county of Clark and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Hemp-Breaking Machine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to hemp-breaking machines; and the rincipal object of the invention is to provi e, in an improved hempbreaking machine of the type in which the breaking mechanism consists in a 1plurality of pairs of intergeared revolving brea ers, means for controlling the feed of the hemp to the tween the transverse slats or bars o the breakers, so that it will not become entangled in the gears, and improved means for receiving the broken hemp and discharging it upon any suitable receiving-surface.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a hemp-breaking machine of the type speciiied an improved arrangement of revolving breakers so constructed that as the hemp passes from one pair of breakers to the next air it will be caught in a diierent place and s ightly jerked, thus aiding in the separation of the woody material from the fiber.

In attaining the objects above mentioned we make use of the novel construction anniy combination of parte of a hem -breaking machine hereinafter described, il ustrated in the accom anying drawings, and having the novel eatures thereof specifically pointed out in the appended claim. A

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view in vertical longitudinal section throu h the complete machine. Fig. 2 is a detai view in section on therline 2 2 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a detail view showing the mechanism for transmitting motion to the feed-rollers at the front of the machine.

Referring to the drawings, in which corres ending parts are designated by similar characters of reference, F designates the frame of the machine, comprisin a horizontal base consisting of longitudine members 1 and transverse bars 2 and a superstructure consisting of standards 3, connected by crossieces 4 at the to s and supporting inclined ongitudinal mem ers 5;

The front ends of the members 5 are arranged at a considerably reater elevation than their rear ends to faci ltate the passage 14 between brea ers 8al and 8b.

of the hemp through the machine, and at the front of the machine a pair of feed-rollers 6 are rotatably supported between the sides of the frame, being journaled in blocks 7 secured between the inclined lon itudinal members 5. Immediatel behind the gesti-rollers is the first pair of brea ers 8, each of which consists of e shaft 9, a pair of gears 1U, and a plurality oi slats or breaker-bars 11, mortiscd at the ends into the gears 10. The breakers 8 are of such size that the gears of one breaker mesh with those of the breaker below, and power being applied to the lower breaker the upper breaker will be rotated through the engagement of its gears with the lower breaker. There are ve pairs of breakers 8, 8a, 8P, 8C, and 8d, respectively, the lower member of each air being rotatably mounted in bearing-b ocks 12 upon the lower inclined longitudinal members 5 and the upper member Aof each pair being supported in similar bearingblocks upon t e upper inclined longitudinal members. All of the breakers are similar in eneral construction; but the slats 11 of the reakers 8 are farther a art than the slats 11I1 of the breakers 8, an the slats 11a are farther apart than the slats 11b, while slats 11c i are closer together than slats 11b and farther ,apart than slats l 1d. Power is imparted to the lower breaker 8 b means of ears 13y on a shaft 14, iournale beneath the ower inclined longitudinal bars 5 between the breakers 8 and breakers 8a. The shaft 14 bears at the end a palle?T 15, over which runs a belt 16 from an suitab e source of power. (Not shown.) 'libe gears 13 mesh with the gears of the lower breaker 8 and also with the gears of the lower breaker 8a, so imparting movement directly to both pairs of breakers 8 and 8a. Motion is transmitted jfrom the breakers 8a to the breakers Si b spur-gears 13 on a shaft Similarly gears 13b on a shaft 14? serve to transmit motion from breakers Si to breakers 8, and motion is transmitted from breakers 8 to breakers 8d by means of gears 13C on a shaft '14.

At the end of the shaft 14 opposite the pulley 15 there is mounted a small pulley 17, over which travels a belt 18, which imparts movement to the lower feed-roller 6 from its contact with a pulley 19 on the end of said feed-roller. Motion is imparted from the lower roller to the upper roller by means of intermeshing gears 20, as shown in Fig. 3.

IOO

To insure the passage of the hemp from the feed-rollers to the breakers without becoming entangled with the gears at the ends of the feed-rollers, guides 21 are provided on the rear surfaces of the blocks 7 with their ends disposed rearward and inward, as shown. The guides are preferably thin lates of metal or other suitable material wit pointed ends which project between the upper and lower breakers 8. The uidance of the hemp from the breakers 8 to t e succeeding breakers is effected by means of inclined guide members 22, 22, 22", and 220, arranged as shown in Fig. 1 and secured upon the upper inclined longitudinal members 5, the necessary inclination inward being secured by means of blocks of the form shown at 23 in Fig. 2.

After assing through the machine the hemp is discharged from the breakers 8d u on an endless apron 24, supported u on ro ers 25 and provided with transverse c eats 26 to prevent the slipping of the material carried. The apron 24 is disposed at an an le to the plane of travel of the hemp throug the machine, and the lower roller 25 is disposed below the'lowex` breaker 8d, so that the hemp discharged by the breaker 8d cannot fail to fall upon the endless a ron. Movement is imparted to the lower ro ler 25 by means of a cross-belt 27, running on a pulley 28 at one end of the shaft 14 and a pulley 29 at the adjacent end of the lower roller 25.

The machine having been set in operation by means of the driving means already described, the hemp will be fed to the feed-rollers by persons at the front of the machine and will be carried automatically through the machine, thoroughly broken by the breakers, and discharged from the last pair of breakers upon the traveling a ron 24. The guide members 21 between t e feed-rollers and the breakers 8 insure the proper entrance of the hemp between the first pair of breakers, and the guides arranged between the several pairs of breakers prevent the hemp from being deflected laterally and becomin tangled in the gears of the revolvin brea ers. The increasin numbers of s ats in the successive pairs o breakers from the receiving end of the machine to its discharge end causes the hem to be folded or crimped into a greater num er of folds at each passage from one pair of breakers to the next, and as the depth of each fold is the same the hem is slightly jerked or stretched as it is taken y one pair of breakers from. the pair behind In consequence of this jerking action the woody matter of the hemp is thoroughly separated from the fiber, so that the broken hem discharged upon the traveling apron 24 is re uced almost to a pure ber.

By arranging the gears 13, 13, 13h, and 13I3 below the axis of the lower breakers we are enabled to place the several pairs of breakers closer together than we should otherwise be able to do, and by brin ing the several pairs of breakers closer toget er the possibility of any failure of the hemp to pass directl r forward through the machine is comp etely avoided.

From the foregoing descri tion and the aocompanying drawin s it wil be noted that the machine is simp e in construction and is more compact than machines of the type to which it belongs and which have heretofore been made. Consequently it will be seen that the rate at which hemp may be passed through the machine and subjected to the action thereof is increased and the amount of hemp that can be treated by the machine in a given time correspondin ly enlarged.

Having thus described t e construction and operation of our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

A hemp-breaking machine embodying a plurality of pairs of breakers, driving-gears meshing with the lower series of breakers and havin their journals disposed below those of theysaid breakers whereby the lower breakers may be closely disposed thereby to prevent any tendency of the gears to catch and mutilate the hemp, inward-curved angularly-arranged guide members having pointed terminals dis osed between the succeeding pairs of brea ers, and an endless conveyer arranged at the lower end of the machine and disposed at an angle oblique to the plane of the travel of the hemp therethrough, the lower end of the conveyer being arranged below the lowest breaker, whereby the hemp dischar ed from this breaker is caused to be caught y the conveyer.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto afiiXed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM H. KLAUK. JAMES P. LOWRY. Witnesses:

W. O. BRocK. T. PREwrr'r. 

